Environmental and social attitudes and investments in crypto-assets

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to contribute to our understanding of the relationship of environmental and social attitudes of investors and their investment into crypto-assets compared to traditional assets. Given the controversies over the environmental footprint of some crypto-asset classes, primarily due to energy-intensive mining, they present an intriguing subject for investigation. Leveraging a unique household finance survey representative of the Austrian population, we examine whether environmental and social attitudes can elucidate the variance in individual portfolio exposure to crypto-assets. Results indicate a robust link between investors’ environmental and social attitudes and their exposure to crypto-investments, yet no significant association was found with traditional asset benchmarks like bonds and shares.